Residents,
Below is an update on Bruce’s Beach. The information comes to us from the folks at Bruce’s Beach Get The Facts. We thank them for your 16 months of hard work.
~MBStrong
Call To Action
On this Tuesday's City Council Agenda, item #10, City Attorney Barrow is scheduled to provide a Status Report Regarding Bruce’s Beach.
You can watch the meeting on Tuesday night, 6:00 via zoom [HERE].
Or you can attend in person at 1400 Highland Ave.
Speak up and give a 3-minute public comment.
You can email City Council [HERE].
Call to Action: We ask Mayor Napolitano and Council to take action to protect MB from lawsuits already threatened by the Bruce Family for a payout from MB related to emotional damages caused by racial discrimination, even if the State pays them $20 million for their 2 lots. Heirs of the other 28 lot owners will undoubtedly file lawsuits as well for equal treatment under the law. Their land alone is worth ~$200 million.
Can MB afford to take a financial hit of that magnitude without bankrupting our city? And would the City pass along the cost to residents in the form of higher taxes?
Council, please add the following language to the Resolution of Condemnation and Plaque language to explain and clarify your conclusion of “racial motivation.”
"The conclusion that the Eminent Domain decision was ‘racially motivated’ is tentative in nature because it was based on the unsworn statement of one individual, Frank Daugherty, that was not corroborated by a second source and other uncorroborated stories. A "tentative" conclusion means that it is uncertain, disputable, debatable, and, therefore, not absolute or unequivocal. The tentative nature of the conclusion is magnified by the fact that the statement was not made near the event, it was made 19 years after the fact, and the statement was made during a speech and not in a courtroom or under oath and is, therefore, considered to be hearsay by definition."
If you’re wondering if these heirs can prevail in a lawsuit about a 100-year-old issue, a recent court ruling allows for the appropriation of taxpayer funds and city property to anyone seeking a remedy if it involves “racial discrimination" committed by the government at any time.
How did all of this start and where does Bruce's Beach stand right now?
In August of 2020, during the height of BLM violence, a wave of out-of-control mobs hit city after city across the country with accusations of racism, real or not.
Some overdue changes came out of this, but also came the opportunists. Some individuals were looking for fame, others for money, and some politicians used it to boost their polls or position their political careers without regard for our City.
Bruce's Beach became a useful tool for opportunists. For Governor Newsom's career, it was an opportunity to build a reputation as the Governor who ignited a "reparations movement across the country," (his words).
"America is systemically racist" was the mantra of this troubled time and demands were made to reframe American history with the 1619 Project which asserts that every aspect of American life has only one lens for viewing, that of slavery and its fall-out.
The NY Times had published The 1619 Project the year before and was financially capitalizing on its investment with a magazine, podcasts, a newspaper section, a book, and even a curriculum designed to inject a new version of American history into schools [Politico Mg. 2020].
The reframed history gives scant attention to Black leaders and their White allies who led successful fights to make enormous changes, and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Frederick Douglass are barely mentioned.
But professional Historical Scholars collectively wrote their now widely known letter to the Times intending to ensure that The Project's efforts did not come at the expense of basic accuracy and pointed out specific statements that if allowed to stand, would misinform the public. They were the voice upholding standards.
The Scholars exposed the lack of attention to crucial race relation movements in America’s history and the erroneous conclusions about American history in The 1619 Project were debunked. The critics never denied racism existed or that it still exists. The professionals were not imposing "right-wing" conspiracies, in fact, most are Democrats. [The Atlantic 2020].
Likewise, we have never disputed that the era in which the Bruces lived was one of the most virulent periods of racism in the United States since the abolition of slavery. Some areas of the country forced segregation and many did so through violence. But other cities did not segregate, such was the case in MB.
Willa Bruce had the opportunity in MB to own land by the water and build a business. We have always agreed that Willa was an exceptional businesswoman. What started as a small bathhouse, she was able to turn it into a flourishing enterprise.
After several years of success in attracting many patrons to the area, the City enacted Eminent Domain to purchase the 2 lots owned by the Bruces, plus 28 other lots, which included both Black and White owners. There is no dispute that all the property owners were paid above market value. Four of the five Black property owners bought replacement properties in MB, and the Bruces purchased a home and a commercial property in LA.
Those who are trying to reframe the history of Bruce's Beach frequently make false claims, like the City stole the properties, the Black owners were harassed by the KKK, they were run out of town, and tell stories about burning crosses on a hill. All of the false claims are based on uncorroborated stories (aka rumors).
Making false claims undermines the actual racism experienced by so many Black Americans during the Jim Crow era. These types and levels of racial discrimination did occur daily around the country and are well documented in history. There is no evidence the KKK was active in MB in 1924 when Eminent Domain was enacted.
From the start, we have been openly critical of City Council for not being fair and balanced in selecting a Task Force of residents to write the history of Bruces Beach with no professionals on board. We have also criticized Mayor Napolitano for directing the Task Force to write an apology on behalf of the community before any research had been completed to justify this assertion.
When residents rejected the Task Force's recommendation that our residents issue an apology, Mayor Napolitano kept on pressing and wrote his own version for the Council to approve, which was also overwhelmingly rejected by the community.
In an effort to move our History into the hands of professionals, we reached out to the renowned scholars that authored the letter to the Times regarding The 1619 Project. The responses that we received were encouraging, but also painted the reality in our country: “I'm sorry that our nation is ripping itself apart over the issue of racism. I hope it's not too late for people to truly listen to one another. Reading well-documented history with an open mind is one way to begin. At the same time, I despise the mainstream media's constant ginning up of anger about topics it poorly understands. Far too many celebrity journalists and career "public intellectuals" are framing our debates today.”
We continued our search for a professional, independent compilation of our history by reaching out to a dozen or more professors. An LMU History professor provided inciteful knowledge that we shared with City Council. He stated that cities typically hire professional history firms to conduct research, write factually accurate histories, and draft wording for their city monuments, and he provided two sources.
We emailed Council the contact information for the firms and for the LMU professor. A slew of residents emailed Council about hiring a professional firm. Ignoring the obvious need to turn this important work over to professionals, Council appointed themselves as yet another group of nonprofessionals to write the final plaque language.
We are saddened that our leaders did not listen to residents more often. Over the last 16 months, residents sent a couple of thousand letters to Council about Bruce’s Beach issues. We encourage you to stay engaged in the issues we face in MB and not be discouraged.
We are calling our last Call to Action for Council to protect our city against the financial peril of costly lawsuits and mitigate the stain of racism cast on our Beach City by explaining their conclusion of “racial discrimination” is debatable (See above Call to Action).
It has been our pleasure to serve our fellow residents by bringing you the information on this issue.
-BrucesBeachGetTheFacts
Please address all comments to BruceBeachGetTheFacts@gmail.com.
About MBStrong…
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